Saturday, March 29, 2014

Surprise Visit

It's Tuesday afternoon when I get a Facetime call from my sister, Amber. We were in the middle of eating lunch, but decided to answer the call anyways. When I answered the call on my iPad, I got so confused because all I could see was our front door. It ran through my head, I am inside, why is my front door on my screen? Out loud I said, "Wait, What" as I look outside of our window and see my sister standing there.

I was in complete shock and so were the girls, especially McKaila. It's been since McKenna was a couple weeks old that Auntie was here, so McKaila has only seen here on my iPad screen since then. So, having Auntie right in front of her was different for her. It took a couple hours for McKaila to warm up to the idea that Auntie was her physically.





 
It was an awesome surprise but like any visit, it went by too quickly. We love you Auntie!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

The End of Soccer Season

And just like that soccer season is done for McKaila. After 2 months of Wednesday night practices and a month a half of Saturday morning soccer games, the season is done. Even though it was hard getting the girls up early on Saturday mornings, it was lots of fun watching our little lady run around with all the other kids and kick around the soccer ball.
 
This is the first time McKaila has ever been a part of a sports team and I think she really enjoyed it and more then likely she'll be doing it again, unless she decides that she would much rather do something else. McKaila did a great job for being her first time on the soccer field. I got to say that the season didn't start off to hot for her. She would be into it for the first part of the game, and then after a while she would be upset because a little boy or little girl tried taking the ball from her. But, the last 2 games of the season, McKaila did awesome. She kicked the ball, she tried stealing the ball, she made goals and she ran after the ball the whole game.

 McKaila's biggest fan


After the game, it was time to hand out trophies. They did spell McKaila's name wrong, but that is besides the point. McKaila loves her little trophy and she has to have it next to her bed at night. We are so proud of our little soccer player.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

My Girls

 
No love will ever compare to the love I have for these 2 girls. They are my everything and I couldn't imagine life without them. They have challenged me in every way possible, but at the same time has shown me a love I could never describe.
 
 
I don't know what it is, maybe it's the fact that in just a short month and a half my little baby, McKenna Grace is going to be turning 1, but I sometimes get teary eyed looking at them, thinking how big my girls have gotten. Every morning, when I get them out of bed, I look at them and think they have grown so much over the night.
 


 
McKaila Rose  is now a little lady. The things that come out of her mouth are hilarious sometimes, but I love to sit there and listen to all the stories she has to share. Yup, she gets that from her daddy.
 
 


 
McKenna Grace amazes me daily with what she does. Every day, she gets closer and closer to full on walking. Started with taking a couple steps in between Courtney and I, now it's 5-8 steps. She's ready to go.




Katrina Memorial

It was a beautiful day and my parents were in town, so we decided to head out so they could finally see the Katrina Memorial. My parents have visited us on a few different occasions, but we have never seemed to have the time to go see the memorial, so this time around, we made sure we made the time.












It was such a beautiful day, that the girls enjoyed running and crawling around the grounds in front of the memorial. McKenna hasn't really experienced what grass feels like, since our yard is full of dirt and weeds, so at first she wasn't too sure on what was going on under her feet when I stood her up, but after that first touch, she was ready to go and roam around the grass.

Friday, March 14, 2014

McKaila's First Haircut

I love McKaila's long hair, that has the cutest little ringlets at the ends, but for a long time I debated in my head if I should finally get McKaila her first haircut. It's been probably since McKaila's 3rd birthday, since Courtney and I started talking about getting her haircut. Mostly, we would just joke about it, because we both love her hair, but a couple weeks ago, I didn't joke about it anymore.
 
It was finally time. Time to cave in and get her haircut. But, nothing big, just a trim, I am not ready for anything more than that. So, as soon as I made the decision in my head, I knew I had to make that appointment right away, before I started to rethink what I was doing. Thankfully, Krystle who cuts my hair was more then happy to give McKaila her first haircut. So, Friday morning, I got my haircut and after watching me, McKaila got her haircut.




 
McKaila did so good. She just sat there and watched Krystle cut her hair in the mirror. Afterwards, she even helped sweep up all her hair.
All day, she just kept repeating, "mommy, daddy, I got my haircut, it's so pretty" Oh, how we love her

Friday, March 7, 2014

Blankie and Piglet

McKenna Grace is one that always has to have her blankie with her. She has 3 blankets that have become her favorite, which are the ones that have the satin trim around them. She will drag it around the house, she'll sit with it at meal time, when she's in the cart while we shop, but most of all it's cuddled up to her when it's nap/bedtime.
 
Now, along side her blankie, is her Piglet that daddy bought for her.



McKenna is so attached to her blankie that when she's sleeping and she rolls away from her blanket, she'll reach for it until she can get it in her hand to pull it back to her. Piglet is always very close to her all night and in the mornings when she wakes, she will play and talk with Piglet in her crib until mommy or daddy come through the door.
 
She has become our very own little Piglet

Monday, March 3, 2014

First Mardi Gras

Our family got to experience our first Mardi Gras together this past weekend. We really didn't know what to expect other then people telling us to watch out for all the flying beads. I knew there would be lots of people out for the parade, but I guess coming from a small town that has a festival itself, I underestimated the amount of people that would be around.
 
We arrived in New Orleans at about noon even though the parade didn't start until 4. Luckily, we got there when we did because we were able to come and go to the car when needed because it was parked right around the corner from us. During the 4-5 hours of waiting for the parade to start we munched on food and enjoyed time watching the kids run around. We went with some of Courtney's co-workers, so there was many kids running around playing.
 
The parade started at 4, but didn't arrive by us until about 5. It was a long wait, but it was worth it when I saw the kids faces light up when they got beads thrown at them. They didn't always throw beads though. We did get some stuffed animals thrown our way, along with a few light up toys. McKaila had a blast for sure and was so excited to see our stash of beads get bigger and bigger. The start of the parade also had floats with actors on them. The first one, Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead and Ian Somerhalder from The Vampire Diaries.  From what I heard the parade lasts about 5 hours, but after a couple hours we headed out. It had been a long day already and we had a crazy amount of beads already, so the sunset and we headed back home.

 It was very difficult to keep McKenna busy while we waited for the parade to start. All she wanted to do was crawl around, but it was mostly dirt where we were, so that wasn't happening. We resorted to her climbing on chairs, holding her as long as we can, and relaxing in the stroller as much I we could get her too

 
 
 
 To keep the kids busy, many parents started buying toys from the vendors that walked up and down the roads. They sold hats, toys, beads, and some had cotton candy. McKaila never had cotton candy before so she wasn't too sure about it at first, but in the end, she couldn't get enough of it.

 Our set up for the day. All the food on the long tables with everyone surrounding it. The food stayed out all afternoon, so we pretty much snacked all day long
 The parade is about to begin. People started piling in and before you knew it there was people every where. And when we started to see the police come through on their horses, the kids hopped up on shoulders so they could catch some beads



 
 
 Our mountain of beads! It was a great time with family and friends and can't wait to go again next year. Just next year, we will be a little more prepared to hang out for 4 hours leading up to the parade. (we thought the parade was starting shortly after we arrived)